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D. P. PRESCOTT. CAR COUPLING.

N0. 307,729. Patented Nov. 4, 18841.

, INVENTOR 'fi W %M W BY ATTORNEY.

N. PKTERS. Phobulhagmpher. wmi n nnnnnn c ghvirnn States Patent FFTCEW DANIEL P. PRESCOTT, OF VERNON, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ED\VIN F. BROOKS, OF BRATTLEBOROUGH, VERMONT, AND JAMES WV. SHANKS, OF PALMER, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR COUPLING.

CAZL'QN forming part of Letters Patent No; 307,729, dated November 1884.

Application filed March 10, 1884. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that-.1. DANIEL P. PRESCOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing atVernon, in the county of Windham and State of Vermont, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Car-Couplings, ot' which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in car-couplings, the object being to combine with couplings constructed substantially like the or dinary linleand-pin couplings improved self-coupling devices which may or may not be brought into use and which do not interfere with the use of the link and pin.

A further object of this invention is to provide such improved self-coupling devices for cars as permits of considerable difference of height between the couplings of twocarswithout interfering with the proper interlocking of the couplings, and to provide such an improved construction and arrangement of auto-t matic hook-couplings as permits of great free dom of movement to the cars united thereby when running around curves, and which are easily and conveniently uncoupled when the cars are standing on a sharp curve oithe road.

In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a pair of car-couplings embodying my invention, one of which is shown attached to a car, the latter being provided with devices for elevating and lowering the coupling hook. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the coupling. Fig. 3 is a plan view; and Fig. 4 illustrates a coupling on the end of the car, having the hook drawn up against the car.

In the drawings, Aindicates an end of a car having attached thereto in any well'known manner the coupling draw-bar a, which is provided with the usual mouth, to, and pin-hole :r, for the purpose of employing therewith, if need be, the link '3 and pin 2 in the ordinary way. The coupling as thus described and shown is substantially the common link-andpin coupling. To adapt this coupling, however, to serve likewise as a self or automatic coupler, and to be with equal facility employed in connection with a coupling not provided with the automatic feature thereof, the drawbar has applied thereto a coupling hook-bar,

as hereinafter described. Thedraw-barchas its thickness reduced from its end rearward for a suitable distance to receive upon the upper side thereof the coupling hook-barb. The hook-bar b is adapted to haveit's rear end come against the abutment K on the upper side of the bar a, its thickness being about equal to the height ot'said abutment, and its width about the same as that of the d raw-bar a. Thehookbar 7) is pivotally secured to the draw-bar by the staple d or other suitable means, whereby it is capable of having free vibratory movements in a horizontal and vertical plane, and

is thereby so secured to the draw-bar as to resist any tractional strain to which it may be submitted. The free or outer end of thehookbar I) is double-hookedthat is to say, it is made of a barbed spearhead shape, ahook extending from edge to edge on each side thereof and its end terminating in a thin edge. The hook-bar I) has a chain, 0, attached to it,which chain extends back of a suitable guide-roller and up to the root of the car, where it is attached to a lever, 01., and by swinging thelat ter over onto the car-roof the hook-bar can be drawn up against the end of the car, asin Fig. 7 at, and there held; or it can by aperson 011 the car-roof be manipulated, if need be, to facilitate its engagement with another hook-bar.

Pivoted on the end of car A are. two levers,

1), whose outer ends extend beyond the sides of the car, and their inner ends, which termi' nate near chain c, are attached thereto by chains 0, so that the hookbar may thereby be swung up and down.

The above'described improved additional coupling devices are applied to the usual linkand-pin coupling, in order that the inconvenience of coupling the latter, which are by far the most connnon,with a self-coupler, may be avoided, and to the end that a car provided with the coupling herein shown and described may be easily coupled to a car having onlythe link-and-pin coupling, and vice versa.

The operation of my improvements is easily understood from the drawings by any one 5 skilled in the art. hen two couplings, as in Fig. 1, come together, it is immaterial which of the bars I) is uppermost. This will be determined by any difference in height there may be between the ends of the' draw-bars. The incline c on the latter guides the end of hook Z) upward as the latter strikes .bar a. brakeman, either on the roof or on the ground, can work the hook-bars b by theleveru, or by one of the levers o, if need be, to bring them into proper locking position without going between the ears; or he can by like means uncouple the same. The free vibratory movement horizontally which the hook-bars arc permitted tohave, as shown in Fig. 3, prevents The 1. The combination, with the draw-bar a, provided with the mouth w, the abutment K, and pin-hole x, of the hook-bar b, pivoted to the upper side of said draw-bar adjacentto said abutment, and capable of horizontal and vertical vibratory movements, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the draw-bar a, provided with the mouth 10, the abutment K, and pin-hole x, of the hook-bar b, pivoted to the upper side of said draw-bar adjacent to said abutment, and capable of horizontal and vertical vibratory movements, and means,substantially as described, for lilting and lowering said hook-bar, all asset forth.

DANIEL P. PRESCOTT. \Vitnesses:

\VM. H. OHAPIN, J. D. GARFIELD. 

